Carefree Summer Days

I wanted to call this post, Carefree Summah Daze, but I don’t think Google would like it very much.

Well I’m pooped. I woke up at 6am Sunday morning and hit the ground running with my yard sale. Tanya from Eat, Laugh, Purr, as well as two other friends joined me selling stuff today. For my part, I made a whopping $70*, but that really wasn’t the main goal of my day. I just wanted to be rid of all of that extra crap that I’ve been dragging around for years, like my CD’s. A good majority I’ve sold back to a used record store, but I still had about 100 left, as well as a bin full of CD’s which I’ve either copied from friends, or old CMJ CD’s that came with the magazine way back when. I ended up giving a lady the entire thing for $15. Ahhhhh….so nice to see it all go…

*I did sell something on Craigslist earlier this week for $135.

It feels so freeing to give up stuff you don’t need anymore. I know at the time, buying CD’s and reading the liner notes from cover to cover was once a big deal in my life, but so much other crap (like a plastic microwavable omelet maker) is just…crap. We as a whole burden ourselves with too much stuff that isn’t necessary. It just weighs us down both physically and emotionally.

Now my life fits easily into my apartment and is easy to find. Pretty much the only thing I store in my garage is my bike.

Speaking of bikes, part of being carefree this summer is ditching the car more and riding “banana pancakes.” It seems that all too often I’ve been pressed for time, so driving down to the beach instead of riding my bike is just more time efficient when I have a million things I’m dealing with.

This summer I hope to ease up on myself a bit and try and enjoy the lazy days of summer more. More reading, more bike riding, more casual time hanging out with friends. Being carefree doesn’t mean having to spend a lot of money. In fact, I really do think that when we are more carefree and less stressed, we don’t feel the need to spend as much money. At least I find that to be true.

So now that I have this big yard sale monkey off my back, I’m making a pledge to slow down and enjoy summer more.

Any monkeys on your back you’ve been wanting to get rid of?

And back to bikes once more, Headwater.com has this fun infographic of what rules for women on bikes were back in the late 1800’s. I think one thing we can all appreciate is just how much more freedom we have these days!

Oh..your bike is so cute! I’m sure it’s cheaper to ride the bike to the beach too, unless you have found a free broken meter! It’s nice to get rid of crap isn’t it? I felt lighter too when we moved and sold a bunch of stuff, even though we still have way too many clothes!!! That’s my monkey. My husband refuses to give up any of his..:0)

I have a parking pass so it’s only 40 for the whole year. I still have to be careful of tickets though. The bonus is burning a few extra calories. 🙂 The downside is I lose about an hour of time riding. Sometimes more…

Arman @ thebigmansworld

I like the concept of a yard sale to declutter and not with the intention to make money (although that is a bonus!) – Ironically, my friend and I had a market stall for the same reason and I made $70….and then got a $69 parking fine.

I love it after we are done with a garage sale. It feels so good to get rid of all of that clutter. Even if we don’t make much, I really don’t care. Getting back to simplicity makes it worth it for me.

Wow yeah the times have changed for sure! That’s a crazy list of rules! I’m glad you are taking it easier in the Summer and I feel like I need to as well. I have been a bit better about taking a deep breath and relaxing instead of feeling like I constantly need to be working on the blog or doing some sort of project.

I know it’s so hard when you get in a productive groove. It’s so hard to fight the feeling that I should always be doing something more productive when I’m trying to relax or read.

John S @ Frugal Rules

Glad to hear that you unloaded some of your junk…we need to do the same exact thing. We got new couches a few weeks ago and had to clear out part of the basement and was just amazed at how much crap we have that we simply just need to get rid of. That infographic is crazy. I never knew that gum chewing was a “problem” to do in public, lol.

I think having a small apt helps in keeping things pretty free of clutter, but it’s still amazing what you can find. Good luck with your project!

Laurie @thefrugalfarmer

Love that infographic!!! I love reading about things from the 19th century – life was SO different back then, and I can’t help but think of how much we have to be thankful for and how far we’ve come. We are going room by room this summer and getting rid of stuff too. Can’t wait for it to be done! 🙂

LOL. Some of those do’s and don’ts are hilarious and random and have nothing to do with cycling.

After the wedding, we are definitely wanting to do a yard sale to get rid of some stuff. I have been selling some things I don’t use on Craigslist here and there but I would love to get rid of a bunch in one fell swoop.

Awesome Daisy! I know that CL is a great way to go with a lot of stuff, but it does require some patience with selling and re-posting if it doesn’t sell. But yeah getting rid of stuff in one fell swoop feels nice.

Cashville Skyline

Hahaha. “Don’t cultivate a bicycle face!” Hilarious! I’m going to focus on getting rid of some stuff next weekend. You must feel amazing and having an extra $70 is pretty cool.

Oh wow you have a lot of CD’s… I can imagine how liberating it is to get rid all of them! I’ve been slowly getting rid of unnecessary stuff. It’s interesting to see how all this stuff was once an important part of our lives but they’re just down right junk… Nice infographic by the way!

We’re cleaning out our garage and hauled a bunch of stuff to Value Village yesterday… can’t be bothered to do a garage sale, cause they’re a lot of work. At least now I’m meeting some additional charity goals!

Your infographic is funny. Reminds me of this joke.

At a convent, the cook was preparing lunch while some of the nuns were getting some exercise while riding their bikes in the courtyard. Lunch bell rang but the nuns kept riding. Eventually the Mother Superior came out and called them. Still no nuns came in for their lunch. Finally, the frustrated Mother Superior went out to the courtyard and yelled “If you sisters don’t come in for lunch straight away I’m going to put those seats back on those bicycles!”.

70 extra bucks is 70 extra bucks! I’m sure you put a lot of work into it though. I love your bike! It’s so cute. You should definitely bike more and enjoy the sun and living near the beach. It’s definitely a perk of being in the area!

Thanks Melanie! I do wish I would have gotten a bike with gears though. I have one major hill I have to contend with when I ride to the beach and I swear that’s what keeps me from riding half the time.

Kim

I think $70 is great and it’s much more than you’d have if you kept your pile of stuff. I don’t know if I could get rid of all our CD’s. Most things I have no trouble parting with, but I even still have some old vinyl records that I hang onto. Not sure why. I’m having a yard sale with my neighbor in two weeks. Here’s to hoping we get rid of all our crap!

$70 is pretty nice, plus the $135 from craigslist. It really is freeing to get rid of stuff you don’t need anymore. My wife and I really need to do that, there is so much clutter. Hopefully if/when we move we will get rid of a lot of that stuff. It’s funny how moving gives you an incentive to get rid of stuff…

$70 is not bad. I said I was going to start organizing my DVD collection to sell it all, but the World Cup and Father’s Day got in the way…. I know, I know, excuses. This week I’ll get to it and see how much money I can make. I’ll be happy with $70.

No not too bad, and with the $135 and hopefully the $70 that I will get selling a GPS (that someone gave to me) will make it a successful month!

Megan Michael

Ah yes I have a ton of CDs, and you are right- at one point in my life they were VERY important to me. Being a teenager and holing myself up in my room and listening to music. It’s like a rite of passage I guess. I still have practically all of my CDs but They don’t take up much space and I have room to store them so I’m still hanging on to that part of my childhood. I LOVE GETTING RID OF CLOTHES, though. That is the best feeling in the world.

I think the getting rid of CD thing has been such a huge, long process that I was just happy to see it all go. I think years ago the first batch I got rid of was so hard to let go. But all that stuff is on my hard drive (and backed up), so it was time. I actually NEED more clothes!

E.M.

Nice work! Sometimes the value really is in freeing yourself of stuff. I’d like to approach summer with a carefree attitude as well. It should help in being more Type B, too =). I keep seeing all these bike posts, and I’m really wishing I had one!

Exactly! I just wanted to be rid of that last bit of stuff! I’m still working on the type b project. It’s not easy though! Try CL or even better their free section. You might be able to find something for a steal!

I like carefree summer attitude. We are deserve some downtime and it doesn’t need to cost a fortune either. Glad your garage sale was overall a success. I do remember when CDs were a big part of my life. Now I think my girls would assume it was a DVD. 🙂 And I love the info graphic – don’t faint. LOL!

Man to think of all the money I spent on those? OMG! Let’s just take a stab: I know I had over 1k, so about 1k X aprox 12 ish for the cost: 12k! Holy shit! Remind me not to collect anything ever again! 🙂

Done by Forty

That infographic is HILARIOUS. Don’t faint on the road?

I’m envious of the image of a bike being the only thing in your garage. Ours is getting out of hand, to the point that we can barely get our bikes OUT of the garage.

Congrats on getting rid of things that you no longer wanted and making some change! I still have a box of about 100 cd’s sitting in Montreal that I need to get rid of. As for summer plans, I’d like to visit the Jersey shore and take a stroll on the boardwalk.

Man it took YEARS to get rid of them all. And that was the last! I love boardwalks!

Shannon

Congrats on making it through the yard sale! And that infographic is hysterical!!! It’s a good thing I am not bike riding in the 1800s because I think I violate just about all of these. And I am with you on frugally chilling out this summer. I feel like I ran really hard work wise in the winter/spring and I would like to cool off a little this summer.

I have just a couple more items that I want to sell on CL too that would be worth more money than a yard sale. With each item gone it’s so freeing. I was so happy to see those CD’s go!

Tanya @ Eat Laugh Purr

Thanks for inviting me to participate in your Yard Sale. Cray Cray lady made it an event to remember, for sure! Code BCBG!!!! It feels great though to have some extra space in closets!
I’m with you on having a carefree summer. I spend too much time worrying which has given me those two strands of white hair that I had to yank out! LOL! I just need to find a more chill attitude. Be more Max like! LOL!
The infographic is hilarious. I guess fainting, bicycle slang and bloomer talk must have been serious problems back in the day!. 🙂

That lady…OMG! You know she came back, right? She was crazier than ever. She is probably reading this and Seal Team 6 is going to come over and raid my house! 🙂 RE: the infographic…if they only knew that one day there would be people like Miley Cyrus they wouldn’t have been so concerned with the outfits back in the day. 🙂

Nice! Its not the amount you make sometimes but just the fact that you got some space back and were able to feel better overall. I use to be a major pack rat but I just got tired of lugging all that stuff up and down. You just lose track of it. Good for you for clearing out some of your stuff.

Yeah, it does feel really nice, and I didn’t have tons of stuff to begin with. It’s amazing what you can find.

alwayshungry4

Awesome with getting the clutter out of your life, and making some extra money while you’re at it! I LOVE that infograph – don’t attempt a century and don’t race – how things have changed! Though I do agree, don’t faint is a good, albeit very obvi, tip. 😉

This past weekend I put a bunch of unwanted clothes in a huge plastic bin. That was Phase 1 of trying to cut back on my stuff. Phase 2 will be organizing and seeing which items I want to donate/sell/throw away. Even though I’m not completely done with getting rid of the stuff, I feel so relieved and accomplished knowing that the stuff is already on its’ way out!

I want to attempt a “century”. I don’t know what that is, but I want to do it.

Brad @ How To Save Money

I just got rid of almost everything I owned, the hard way. I was living in Indonesia and it was all stolen from me. I managed to keep a camera, a laptop and three shirts. That was it. Everything else gone. But you are right. It was just stuff. It can all be replaced if I want to replace it. It was actually a joy not to check luggage on the way back to the USA. Just stuff. It is our selves that are most important.

Good for you for getting rid of all the stuff. I love a good spring cleaning too, even though I moved a year ago with just a suitcase the house is packed and we have given tons of stuff to the workers, which makes the house much livable.

Mackenzie

Yay for getting rid of stuff! 🙂

the expat investor

Good job on making 70 bucks better than nothing. Wish I can do some spring cleaning to I have a lot of junk around the house. Probably won’t be able to do that until I am done working oversea for good.

Holly Johnson

I’m glad you got rid of some stuff and made some cash. I love selling stuff at garage sales or on craigslist! It’s free money for something I didn’t want anyway =)

I am laughing at your plastic microwaveable omelette maker because I have one of those and it is one of my favorite things! It helps me make veggie omelettes at work…but since you work at home, I guess I can understand why you don’t get the appeal 😛

Natalie @ Financegirl

I am with you! I love getting rid of things that I don’t use anymore. I’m a huge Craigslist seller, personally.

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